檢미래위, 대법에 “김용 기록 보겠다”… 법조계 “재판 개입” [판읽기 | 양은경 법조전문 기자]

Fact-Finding Investigation Launched for Unconfirmed Cases It was confirmed on the 8th that the Fact-Finding Team (the Team), an investigative body under the Ministry of Justice’s Committee on the Future of Respect for Prosecutorial Human Rights (Prosecution Future Committee), has requested the Supreme Court to examine the trial records of the illegal political funding case involving Kim Yong, former Vice President of the Institute for Democracy, whose appeal is currently underway. With the stated purpose of inspecting the abuse of prosecutorial power, the Team has moved to look into trial records where a judgment has not yet been finalized. In response, the legal community has criticized this move, stating that it is “a blatant attempt to influence the trial.” On the 2nd, the Team submitted a “Request for Cooperation in Accessing and Copying Records” to the Supreme Court’s First Division (presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan), which is handling former Vice President Kim’s appeal. The Prosecution Future Committee, which launched on the 10th of last month, selected seven cases for investigation, including the former Vice President Kim case, development corruption in Daejang-dong and Wirye New Towns, and the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea case. Claiming that an independent investigative body was necessary, an investigation team was formed on the 24th of last month as a body directly under the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and the team has launched a fact-finding investigation into human rights violations and abuse of power by the prosecution during the investigation of these cases. It is reported that the Supreme Court is not complying with the investigation team's request for trial records. The basis for the investigation team's request for trial records is internal operational guidelines recently established by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. These guidelines state that the investigation team may collect and secure investigation and trial records, as well as related documents, if necessary. However, the prevailing opinion in the legal community is that these guidelines are merely internal instructions of the prosecution lacking a legal basis. A current senior prosecutor stated, "Seeking to view trial records under the pretext of a fact-finding investigation is highly unusual and inappropriate," adding, "Requesting records while assuming there were problems in the investigation process before a verdict has even been issued constitutes blatant interference in the trial." A lawyer who is a former chief prosecutor also stated, “Since the case is not a finalized one and the appeal is currently underway, allowing a third party—neither the trial prosecutor nor the defense attorney—to access the case records could have a negative impact on the independence and fairness of the trial.” Former Chief Prosecutors Hong Seung-wook, Kim Yu-cheol, Shin Bong-su, and Song Gyeong-ho, who investigated the cases under investigation by the Future Committee, issued a statement on the same day, saying, “Many of the cases included in the investigation are matters where fierce legal battles are currently underway in court,” and added, “The investigation team’s attempt to review trial materials separately is an unconstitutional attempt that violates the principle of separation of powers.” In particular, the fact that the investigation team requested materials directly from the Supreme Court, rather than asking the prosecution’s trial department or other agencies for data, is also controversial. Reactions within the prosecution suggest that “the investigation team has effectively admitted the illegality of its own operational guidelines.” A current chief prosecutor remarked, “It appears they reached out to the court because they felt burdened by the strong internal backlash within the prosecution regarding the illegality of the operational guidelines, and feared that requesting materials from former Deputy Director Kim’s defense attorney would raise questions about fairness.” Kim Seong-dong, Head of the Inspection Department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and Kim Min-ah, a prosecutor at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, also recently pointed out the unconstitutionality and illegality of the investigation team's operational guidelines and duties on the internal prosecution network. Former Deputy Director Kim Yong has been on trial since November 2022 on charges of conspiring with Yoo Dong-gyu, former Head of Planning at the Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, and lawyer Jeong Min-yong in 2021 to receive 847 million won from Nam Wook, a private contractor in Daejang-dong, under the pretext of campaign funds for President Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party presidential primary, and 190 million won in personal bribes from former Head Yoo. He was sentenced to five years in prison, a fine of 70 million won, and confiscation of 670 million won in both the first and second trials and was taken into custody in cou...